OpenOffice 3.0 released, for Mac

The OpenOffice.org Community announced Monday the release of OpenOffice.org 3.0, a free office software suite designed as an alternative to Microsoft Office. This is the first version to run natively on Mac OS X. The software was previously released as a public beta.

The OpenOffice.org site has been inundated with requests for the new version, with the site stripped back to basic text and a message requesting patience: “our website is struggling to cope with the unprecedented demand for the new release 3.0 of OpenOffice.org,” the notice says. “The technical teams are trying to come up with a solution.”

OpenOffice.org features different modules: Word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, graphics, formula and database capabilities are included. The system is extensible, as well — you can supplement OpenOffice.org with new extensions that let you tailor its capabilities for what you want.

Besides native support on Mac OS X, OpenOffice.org 3.0 features improvements to Writer, the word processor, such as a new slider control for zooming, new multilingual support, improved notes capabilities, and the ability to edit wiki documents for the Web.

Improvements to Calc, the spreadsheet app, includes an increase in capacity up to 1024 columns per sheet, a new equation solver, and new collaboration feature for multiple users. Draw, the graphics app, now supports poster-sized graphics up to three square meters. And Impress, the presentation module, features a table designer.

OpenOffice.org 3.0 is provided for free under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).

Will you give it a try? What office suite do you prefer? Share your thoughts in the AMW Forums.